Conventionally, there has been a mounter which includes a plurality of mounting stages for mounting a component onto a board carried in from upstream and for carrying out the component mounted board downstream, in order to improve space-saving and productivity.
For example, in the case where the mounter equipped with two mounting stages, the mounting points of components on a board are evenly divided in two segments and the two segments are assigned to the two mounting stages, so that the time required for the mounting can be evened out. Furthermore, this configuration realizes a space-saving on an assembly-line operation, and the component mounting onto the two boards can be performed simultaneously. Therefore it is possible to improve the throughput and the productivity per area in mounting board production.
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a frame format of a board transportation block in the aforesaid conventional mounter.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a mounting area A in which the components can be mounted onto a board 20 (shaded area) is fixed based on a movable range of a mounting head on the respective mounting stages 9 and 10. In addition, board stoppers 35 and 36 are placed on the end of each mounting area A on downstream side, so that the board carried-in the mounting stage can be placed at just within the area of the mounting area A.
The carried-in boards 20 are brought into contact with the board stoppers 35 and 36, so that the positions of the boards are determined. Thus, the components are mounted onto the boards on the mounting stages 9 and 10 using the positions of the board stoppers 35 and 36 as reference positions.
However, as shown in FIG. 1B, a long board 20 which exceeds the mounting area A cannot be supported by the conventional mounter.
The reason for this is that the reference positions for mounting components onto the boards are determined at positions where the long boards are in contact with the board stoppers 35 and 36, and therefore the same parts on the both boards run out of the mounting areas A on the boards 20 on the respective stages. In fact, there are areas onto which components are not able to be mounted on the boards on the stages.
In view of this, according to the invention of the reference 1 as shown in FIG. 2, the board stopper 36 is made movable, and the board position is determined so as to place the area, which is out of the mounting area A on the mounting stage upstream, in the area of the mounting area A on the mounting stage downstream. Thus, mounting components onto a long board 20 can be supported.
Japanese Laid Open Patent No. 2003-188599